Sta.sh
The setting is a rocky space in the mountains; Athena is seated upon a rock, keeping look out, while Zeus sits on the other side of the stage, both with their helms laid aside but near to hand. Athena never lets go of her spear, and Zeus's hand is never far from his thunderbolt. She does not look at him, though he looks at her.
Zeus:
Alone you stayed when all have fled,
Grey eyed Athena, of all most wise;
And we two now remain to brave
This fight with Typhon; his birth be
Cursed! It is to spite us that
Earth spawned this last and worst of brood
To plague us when our trials and labours
Seemed at long last overcome!
Do you know if our craven kin
Have yet been slain, or wheresover
They have flown? For truly, though they
Have forsaken Greece and me in one,
Yet I would never desire to see
My siblings and my children die.
Oh tell, where are they now?
Athena:
Be you content, King of the Heavens;
Those of your blood are safe away
In Egypt, though they are sore afraid,
For Typhon chased them far afield
Before you drew him back to war,
And now, advised by tricksy Pan,
They have concealed their higher selves
Within the forms of mortal creatures;
Shining Apollon soars into the clouds
Even as does his fiery chariot,
dressed in the feathers and cruel talons
Of the near proudest of birds: a hawk;
Fierce Artemis, his elder twin
Hunts prey still with such great delight
Though wearing now the fur and claws
Of a common cat; your consort queen
The Lady Hera took upon herself
The shape that is her sacred beast
That once you cast upon her priestess -
That poor wretched unhappy Io -
And wades the Nile as a white cow;
The cunning darling Hermes apes
Beings more solemn than himself,
And struts along the river banks
And preens his wings with ibis head;
Dionysus, your son-daughter,
Searches still for sweet grapes to crush
And make the wine that drives men mad
But sniffs them out with a goat's nostrils;
Hephaestus carries still his strength
Now found in the shoulders of an ox;
The frothy one, from Aphros born
Returned to the water whence she came
And with her son, that boy whose arrows
Serve his mother's whims and whines
Put off their beauty and drew on scales
And swim in the tides of the Euphrates
As two small fish; and after them leapt
That coward son whom all do loathe,
And Ares too hides himself away
And flexes fins and gapes the current
Rather than face this terrible foe;
And Pan, smart Pan, whose plan this was
Took to dive under the water as well,
His hinder legs now scaled and twined as one,
And the hair and goat and all transferring to his head.
That's all I know of; your brothers
Are no doubt couched in respective realms,
For what should they care for this terror?
Poseidon has all of the sea, and glories that
For once he's better off than you,
And what happens above the earth
In life's domain holds no intrigue
Or savour for the Wealthy One;
Hades will only see the change
When more come to his shadowed realm
In such a rush as never before.
There are no more, we are the last
Defence against Typhon the Dread.
All I have told; what counsel you wish
I will provide, but I will not stay;
I will hunt this creature alone
And not by your side, King of the Gods.
Zeus:
But…wherefore comes this refusal?
When first you walked upon the earth
With helm new crafted, form new born,
And brandished spear and burnished shield
At our dire foes, the foulest Titans,
You did not scorn to fight by me –
Rather you sought the prospect out,
Refused to let other take that place
Beside my side, and well you stood me,
That I never sought another right hand;
Nor would I now, and I rejoiced
That you alone had not renounced
Our home, myself, our noble cause,
That my first and indeed most best
Beloved daughter-
Athena:
Would that Uranus, former king,
Leave off from mourning his lost blood
And butchered flesh to strike you dumb
Before the realm you claimed from him
Be so polluted with such lies!
What, in this hour when all is peril,
You choose to speak of wrecked love ties,
Of bondage forged in flames tainted
With falsehood, treachery, foul deceit,
And not the true clean flames of honour,
Of decency, patience, respect!
I've said too much, I'll say no more,
But do not call me that 'daughter'
Which means no more to one like you
Than does it to that cruel Typhon!
Zeus:
What have I done, Athena sharp
With words that bite and claw my heart
To earn such barbs and taunts from you
My first child – yes, I will say such,
Do not deny, for you know all;
You can't forget that from my skull
You burst, girl-shaped inspiration;
My first and finest of offspring,
Born of my first and greatest love;
How can you say, my grey eyed one,
That you are not first in my esteem?
Athena:
I say so, and I speak the truth;
Your memory's short, ego bloated
To think I would so soon forget
The way that you denounced that child
That you proclaim to so adore.
Zeus:
Prometheus; it's him again?
Why does that traitor set his mark
Forever upon our family?
He's poisoned you against us all!
Would that you'd not inherited
That pride of which Metis the Wise
Was ever truly rich in store.
Athena:
How like you then, most proud and base,
To think that it is wounded pride
That keeps me from your gaudy halls
And your smug voices, that I take
My leave of you to prove a point!
It is that, yes, I don't deny; but more,
Much more, much more than pride.
Understand this; my pride you broke,
But something other shattered too
And nothing will the breakage mend,
No protestations, pleas and whines
Can take back what you did to us;
And when you try to ply sweet words
They fuel the urge to laugh and weep.
Zeus:
Do then your kin, your own father,
Mean just so little to your heart,
That you'd throw in your lot with him
Who's chained forever to that rock,
And will not buy his sure release
By telling what I need to know-
Do you prize him, then, over me?
Athena:
What do you think? What reason have
You given me to cling to you?
You sit there, claim that you love me.
Well, I sit here and tell you true,
I loved you once. But now that time
Is dead and gone; I love you not.
Zeus:
This is not so, it cannot be,
You don't believe this, not truly!
There's water in your eyes, you weep,
The falsehood will not stay in you!
Athena:
Let it flow then, all away;
Lady of Wisdom I am, not tricks;
That's Hermes business, never mine.
But I do not lie when it comes to you;
There is no love in you, great Zeus,
And great you are, but loving not.
Why do you think our fellows fled?
Ties of blood are not enough,
Already they regret the triumph
That put you on the godly throne.
How strange it is, the one who stays
Both hates and loves you with such heat?
But I do not fight on this day
For you or any of my kin;
My heart turns to my people now
For in my people is my hope
And my son rules them, and by all
That's in me, I will be a
Better mother unto him
Than you a father unto me.
Zeus:
A son? A child? Your words are mad!
Athena:
How so? Do you think then
A virgin may not have a child
Or know the tender mother's love?
Yes, I've known it, and known it well
As you most surely never did
For all you've spent your rampant seed
In every hole known to the world!
I had a son, I have a son, I kept him
Hidden, safe from you, and now that
You or I may die I name him to you;
Erikhthonius; child of struggle,
And child of earth – how harsh the pang,
That his brother might wipe him out!
I hear the thunder roaring now,
No longer your servant, but his;
I must needs go.
Zeus:
Will you return, or leave me here?
Athena:
If I leave you, where shall I go?
Where can I be but here, by you,
My general, my fallen father?
What place is there but by your side
When your peril is at the most?
I hate it here, but yet I cannot
Find my peace elsewhere at all;
Not with my kin, or by my son,
Or in the bowels of this earth
Who plots and schemes to wipe us out!
Why did you give me that aegis
That marks and sets me under you
Yet seems to show such great esteem?
I'd tear it from my shoulders but
I acknowledge its meaning still!
For if Typhon had not emerged
In time I might have been once more
A child of prophecy, and up risen
Against you, and struck you down
With lightening that I do wield too,
And crying harsh tears all the while.
Zeus:
Then know, if we shall die today,
Of all my children now and then,
All that do live and that have died
And might yet be or never will,
I do love you – for I know love!
If I must die in this conflict
Of all those who might be beside me
Before and at the end, I would not have
Any other but only you, my marvellous,
Miraculous, mistreated Athena.
A pause. Athena regains her control; Zeus looks away in his own tears.
Athena:
Let us not talk of dying,
For who knows where it is gods go
When they are severed from this world?
Do you rest and I will watch,
And then we'll plan what you
And I too, perhaps, shall do.
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It's always a pleasure to read your comments to the texts as well (at least for a such a mythology freak as me). Just as in the case with Ariadne and Dionysus, you have really depicted Athena as an interesting character with depth. I like that you've depicted Zeus as a rather ambivalent character as well. He's quite unsympathetic, but there are some good sides in him too. I must say though, that it was very satisfying to read how Athena kind of got back at him for that time when he hurted her so terribly. And that there still actually is som kind of love between them makes the whole thing even more touching. And complicated, I guess. Poor Athena.
And I would love to read more about Erikhthonius.
I always get worried that people take one look at the comments, go 'eek' and dive for cover. I also worry that I place too much importance on the context, not leaving anything substantial in the actual post. That's the problem with me; I tend to know so much about the mythology - or at least the bit I'm writing about - that I assume everyone else does too, and that they'll automatically know what I'm talking about.
Athena has grown on me more than ever. I was thinking about our discussion of how she regards her family, and then I thought about her adopting a probably mortal child, which none of the other gods really did (except for Aphrodite and Adonis, and that was basically grooming, I feel) and I sort of made a link. Her family hurt her; she turns away, she almost burns her bridges. Almost. But she can't stop loving them, because she has such a great capacity for love, and though she's afraid of it hurting her again she can't stop. In her own tiny way she's a little messed up too.
And Zeus. I like that you've seen how I made him so-so. He's a great person, not a good person. I like how shocked I made him that any of his children could entertain the prospect of hating him! He needed a smack, and it's just as well that the one to metaphorically do it is Athena. I'm glad, too, that I managed to get that dynamic down; that combination of love and hate on her side, and love that didn't try enough yet on his.
Erikhthonius will show up again, I'm sure; he's going to be such a smart aleck kid - though possibly not too pleased with how his city treats women down the road...
I can imagine that some people might get scared away by very long comments, espacially if they're not so much into the subject. I love it, though. Sometimes, reading the author's comments about source references and personal interpretations is half the pleasure.
But it's hard to know how much you need to explain to people. One time ago Greek mythology was part of the general knowledge (at least among the cultural elite), but how much do people know about it today? People in general? I often get the impression that they don't know so much, but I'm not sure.
The story about Athena and Erikhthonius is indeed a very interesting one. Like you said, almost none of the other gods adopted a mortal child like that (and, yes, I've also got the impression that he was mortal, though it should have been otherwise since both his parents were immortals. I've also read that he sometimes was said to be half serpent, maybe bacause of the somewhat strange conception. Sometimes incomplete conception methods seem to lead to incomplete offspring in the myths). I've often been thinking about her possible motive. Since he was the result of an attempted rape (most sources seem to say anyway) one would think that she didn't want anything to do with him. But your explanation really makes sense. The incident with Hephaestus was the last straw, now she more or less turns away from her family and put all her love and efforts on her people in Athens.
Oh, man. The Athenian's view on women. That could fill a whole chapter. I'm planning to mention it somewhere in my comics later on, because I'm really wondering what Athena would have thought about it. How much did she identify with the Athenian women? Sometimes she's almost depicted with misogynous features in the ancient texts. And how would the gods who are old enough to remember the Minoan period look on the obvious decline of women's status? So many interesting questions...
I've wondered about there being different levels of mortality. I mean, does being immortal automatically pass the trait onto your children? I remember considering the situation of Aphrodite and Ares's daughter, Harmonia (oh, the irony) to be distinctly dodgy; was she a goddess of marriage or was she mortal? Gah, so confused. I also remember that son of Earth that Herakles fought, the one ho had to be touching the ground to retain his strength, what was his name? Anyway, Herakles killed him. Some sources say Erikhthonius was a half serpent when the girls Athena had given him to in order to protect him peeked into the box he hidden in; I think, as you say, incomplete conception leads to incomplete offspring, and Erikhthonius's body hadn't quite yet decided what it wanted to be. Athena could look on him unharmed, because she's a goddess, but the girls...ah, not so much.
I like that you like my reasoning. I also think she could be shirty at Hephaestus too, in particular, because he'd assisted in imprisoning Prometheus. Maybe she secretly thinks - oh horrors! - that Dad's put her brother up to this, in order to help her 'get over' Prom!? And then she's distraught, beaten up Hephaestus and driven him away, and she thinks there's no one there to see her break down, and this is where she might really crack, and then suddenly Gaia practically dumps Erikh in her lap; someone who needs her, someone who needs to be protected. I think something in her ''is'' revolted, for just an instant, but then it's overtaken by pity and a huge surge of 'He's mine, he's ''mine'' and they won't take him away from me'.
I think the whole making him Athens king came later though, when she thought that Athens needed to have a human who could help it stay on its feet rather than constantly relying on her, and thought, 'Well, Erikh looks human most of the time. Why not him? I've taught him well enough!' (Since Erikh was credited with inventing the quadriga in order to help him to get around, since he was rather lame and couldn't walk well, I'm going with him starting out with a snake's tail and gradually gaining legs Little Mermaidesque, although without the walking on knives angle.)
I've sort of got two opinions on why Athena was misogynistic. One is if you go with the Pandora myth, with women being the cause of all evil. Naturally Athena isn't going to look too kindly on this creation marring her soul mate's work, especially if she was roped in to teaching the rotten thing.
The second opinion - and frankly the one I find more interesting - is a question of psychology; Athena of course didn't set out to make the women second class citizens (only they weren't even that, were they?). And, to be fair, they do embody a lot of what she believes in; duty, responibility, weaving etc. But she's subconciously disgusted by the willingness brought about by the weakness of the women to just stay in their accepted roles, or the weakness of women in general. Remember, Athena is one of the strongest of the gods, no one's going to threaten or succeed in bad mouthing her, she has the luxury of not having to cope with gender roles. I imagine she feels pity for every one of the women who're raped by her family, but at the same time she's thinking 'Why didn't you fight? Why didn't you try harder to get away? Why were you so weak as to give in?' She knows they couldn't, not really, but after her own near rape experience she shows frustration towards anyone that doesn't do as she did.
Yes, she does recognize the importance of duty and responsibility, but there's such a thing as doing nothing. Perhaps she also looks at them and sees a parallel between her and all those goddesses up on Olympus who never seem to be doing anything - Aphrodite, anyone? In a strange way she'd almost identify more with the heterae, sort of, since at least they're trying to get up and do something. Athena is very much a proponent, after seeing her son live and achieve so much and die, of the adage that ''every second counts;'' and I suppose she'd be slightly disappointed with a system that lets some people do so much and yet lets others do so very little, in some ways; and the people that let it continue, men and women alike.
Ah, yes. Pandora. I tend to forget that she was supposed to be the very first woman. Of course Athena wouldn't like the creature that brought all pain and suffering to her soul mate's creations, though she deep down would know that Pandora herself wasn't the one to blame but her own family who made her that way.
You're right. Athena was certainly not a total stranger to the women's world, though she's depicted with many traditional male qualities. I think she even preferred priestesses to priests in her temples. As you say, as a goddess she has the luxury of not having to cope with the gender roles. I have played with the thought that she maybe didn't quite understand how privileged she was. If she had the will and strength to go beyond her expected role, any woman would be able to do it if they really wanted. But... she really should understand the mortals better than that. I think that your idea sounds quite likely. How she deep down knows that the social structures in the societies of mortals don't allow most women to act differenty, but that she still feels frustration about it. Because she is herself a living proof of that things could have been different.
In this aspect, Athena reminds me a bit of the Swedish queen Christina (1626-1689). She was pretty much raised as a boy and ruled Sweden between 1632 to 1654 with a good deal of success. In her autobiography, she wrote that she was grateful that God had made her more male than female, since women in general were weak and not suited to reign. She refused to marry and abdicated from the throne 1654. I think I've even seen a portrait of her dressed as Athena (or Minerva), but I'm not sure because I can't find it right now. It could be just a product of my brain. ^^